


Read

by iwant_todie



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Memory Loss, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Whump, complex motivations, ranboo angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28546290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwant_todie/pseuds/iwant_todie
Summary: The aftermath of Ranboo's memory book being read.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 330





	Read

He opens his chests frantically, panic settling into his chest like a falling stone. It wasn’t at the hole he dug, nor at the spider spawner or the mine. Where could it be? That book has  _ everything _ , his  _ memories _ , his  _ morals _ , what he  _ did _ . How he betrayed L’Manburg and his new friends. His  _ home _ . How he knew Tommy was alive the whole time. He can’t lose this book, he has to find it.

“It has to be  _ somewhere _ in one of these.” Ranboo mumbles to himself, trying to keep the panic away. It doesn’t work, his voice shaking with fear. “Somewhere in one of these, c’mon.”

“Oh my god, you can’t do this. You  _ can’t _ -” Ranboo cuts himself off as he looks through a barrel, shoving items around in it with a sinking feeling in his gut. “You can’t lose it. You  _ can’t _ lose it.”

“Where did you put it, where?” Ranboo’s voice is desperate, fear creeping in. “Where could it have gone too.”

He’s panicking, flashes of his parents and pain and  _ yelling _ are all he can picture. Were they real? Were they fake, imaginings of a past to make an excuse for why he left them? What’s real, whats fake anymore.

“Where could it have…” He trails off, climbing on top of a chest. “Where could it have been?”

“Well, there's nowhere else you went besides  _ here _ , you went to the spider spawner and you went to there.” He reminds himself, trying to calm himself down as he climbs up the ladder. “I know, I know.”

He laughs breathlessly as he jumps off the ladder, opening the single chest on the floor. Ranboo mumbles a soft “Fuck” as it turns up useless. He was supposed to decorate the festival today. Instead, he’s chasing his memories. “This is not good, this is not good.”

“Oh,” Ranboo tears up, hurriedly brushing them out of his eyes as he searches through his home for that  _ goddamn book _ . “C’mon its gotta be- Where did you  _ put it?” _

“ _ Where did you put it? _ ” He repeats to himself, anger following the despair. He stares angrily in a chest, as though the slime balls and worn leather boots will turn into the  _ one thing _ he couldn’t lose. “Where did you keep it? Where did you  _ keep it? _ ”

“Can’t  _ remember.” _ He feels himself tearing up again, ready to give up. He can’t remember, this isn’t  _ fair _ . Why did he let it out of his inventory,  _ when _ did he let it out? Desperation claws at his throat and Ranboo almost chokes as it threatens to consume him whole. “I can’t even remember where it is.”

“It’s gotta be somewhere. It’s  _ gotta _ be somewhere.” Ranboo says, opening the double chest on the floor. It’s an awkwardly placed chest, but it doesn’t matter. He’s already checked it, but maybe a miracle will occur and it’ll be there. “ _ Oh _ .”

There, sitting under some lily pads, is his book.  _ Do not read _ is carved carefully into the leather, a gift from Philza that Ranboo cherishes. Leather carving is not his strong suit, and when Phil saw his old book of memories he made him a new one just to see a better carving. Ranboo sinks to his knees in relief, holding the book in his hands. 

“That's good.” He mumbles, tears no longer welling in his eyes. “It’s all here. It’s all there, it’s  _ all there. _ ” Ranboo stands, flipping through the book to check for any damages. “Okay. It’s all there.” 

“ _ You didn’t put it there. _ ” He realises, horror setting in. “ _ I _ know you didn’t put it there. You didn’t put it there -”

“You didn’t keep it in that chest,” he looks to the chest that only holds semi-useless garbage. “You didn’t keep it in that chest, that's not where you originally put it.” Horror, fear and confusion mix together in a sickening cocktail as he stares at the chest. “That's not where you originally put it. I know, cause  _ I remember. _ ”

“But how could it have moved?” He reasons with himself, trying to calm down. “There's no- there’s no  _ way _ , how could it have moved?”

“How did it move?” The horror in his voice is palpable, fear eating at his chest. It’s not supposed to do that, books  _ can’t _ do that, and this chest definitely did  _ not _ have his memory book in it when he first searched his house. Blood roars in his ears, and then something sharp is forced into his neck.

A needle.

The contents of the needle are pushed into his veins as someone holds him down, and Ranboo struggles against them. He doesn’t  _ feel _ any different as the needle is taken out of his neck, but he knows that it’s only a matter of time before whatever this is hurts him more. Ranboo flips over, shocking the man on top of him. Fundy. Fundy holds the needle in his hands, his tail swishing in long arcs. Ranboo stares at him with wide, horrified eyes.

“Why?” Ranboo’s voice is slurred, and his pupils dilate to the point where Fundy probably wouldn’t be able to see the colour in them. “Hurts.”

“You betrayed us, Ranboo.” Fundy says, and his voice softens. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I just have to get you to the little jail that Quackity built, okay?”

“Hurts.” Ranboo nearly slips into ender, the dull throb in his head beginning to feel as though it will split his head in two. “Hurts, ‘undy.”

“Just go to sleep.” Fundy’s tail stops swishing, and he kneels down, smiling darkly at the teenager. Then, the ground starts to spin as the world 

Goes

**_B_ **

**_L_ **

**_A_ **

**_C_ **

**_K_ **

\---

Ranboo shoots up, his hands chained together. His eyes scan the room around him, noting the purple shifting on the obsidian as light hits it from through the cracks in the iron door. The obsidian room is cold, and Ranboo opens his mouth to call for someone, before finding that he can’t. Panic, now an old friend, sets in as Ranboo struggles to force the muzzle off of his face. 

The door swings open, and Ranboo’s fear filled eyes meet Fundy’s cold ones. Tears prick in his eyes as Fundy gestures to someone outside the door, and Quackity enters with an axe. A whimper forces its way out of his throat as Ranboo spies the bloody aprons that the pair are wearing, though he can’t remember why he should be afraid. Why is he afraid, they’re his friends, right?

“Take the muzzle off him, Fundy.” Quackity says, the iron door screeching shut. Fundy nods, walking over to Ranboo without hesitation. He ignores the way that Ranboo flinches away from him, squeezing his eyes shut as the painful muzzle comes off. “Now, Ranboo, I expect you to answer us truthfully, why did you give Technoblade back his armour?”

“I don’t know.” Ranboo looks at the ground, a few stray tears burning his cheeks as they fall. “I don’t know, I don’t remember.”

The axe finds it’s home in his leg, and Ranboo lets out a strangled wail as the pain hits him. Quackity slams his head into the wall, and Ranboo sends a pleading look to an uncaring Fundy. Fundy said that he wasn’t going to be hurt, right? Why is he being hurt?

“Don’t lie to me!” Quackity yells, and Ranboo slams his eyes shut to avoid looking at his once-friend’s face. “We took you in, we gave you a home, and you  _ betrayed _ us!”

“I don’t  _ remember! _ ” Ranboo pleas fall on deaf ears, but he still pleads his case. “Please, you have to believe me!”

“You wrote it down in your book!” Fundy protests. “If you don’t remember it, then why did you write it down?”

“So I  _ would _ remember it, later!” Ranboo says, trying to fight down the panic. He’s injured and chained up, teleporting would do  _ nothing _ to help him now. 

“Quackity, let him go.” Fundy’s voice is soft as he talks to the man, and Ranboo falls to the ground as his head is released. “Ranboo, you knew that Tommy was alive this whole time. Is there a reason that you didn’t tell us?”

Ranboo thinks for a moment, trying to gather his panicked mind into anything resembling a processable thought. Memories flit around the edges of his mind, dangerously close to being able to remember them, as though if he only reached out more he would be able to remember them completely. One comes to him, falling through his hands like sand, but he understands what past him had decided.

“I wanted to give him the ability to tell you all himself.” Ranboo says as he remembers. “I wanted to give him the choice, I think.”

“You aided Technoblade in making Tommy into his puppet!” Quackity growls, and Ranboo flinches away from the man.

“Isn’t Technoblade Tommy’s older brother?” Ranboo asks, the memory falling away like the tide. “They acted like brothers. I thought he would be happy there.”

“You’re a fool.” Quackity spits on Ranboo, who hisses at the water. “You and Dream will both have fun at the festival, you  _ fucking bastard _ .”

And Quackity pulls the axe out of Ranboo’s leg, turning out of the cell as someone unknown opens the door to let him out. Green blood flows out of the wound, and Fundy winces, pouring a healing potion over the wound. Ranboo watches him, not knowing if he can fully trust the other hybrid.

“You said that I wasn’t going to get hurt.” Ranboo says quietly, trying to work out if Fundy had lied to him, or if he just didn’t know that Quackity was going to get violent.

“No, I said that  _ I  _ wouldn’t hurt you. I never spoke for the others.” Fundy sights, pushing his fluffy red hair out of his eyes. “I’m sorry he hurt you, but we had to find out information.”

“He threw an  _ axe _ into my leg.” Ranboo feels sick, the feeling of bone shards finding their proper home in his legs not helping. “I thought we were friends.”

“We still are.” Fundy lies. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” Ranboo leans against the wall, trying to ignore the world. Maybe this is all just a bad dream. Maybe he’s going to wake up soon.

“Did you lie to Quackity about not remembering why you gave Technoblade his armour back?”

“No.” Ranboo says immediately. “Why would I lie, he’s my friend. He was my friend.” Ranboo frowns. “Is he still my friend? I’m so confused.”

“Thank you.” Fundy says after a moment, scrutinising Ranboo. “I’ll make your case to Tubbo. I’m sure you’ll be pardoned - or at least put into house arrest or community service.”

Ranboo doesn’t quite believe Fundy, especially as he watches the fox hybrid leave. He believes Quackity’s prophecy far more than Fundy’s ideal.


End file.
